Taxpayers on the hook? Developers seek billions over failed Southern Nevada city

Taxpayers on the hook? Developers seek billions over failed Southern Nevada city California developers Albert and Thomas Seeno appeared in a Las Vegas courtroom this week as their lawyer argued why taxpayers should bear the cost of what has become the worst venture of their careers. Former Nevada Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison, representing the Seenos, told the judge, “Judge, what happened present is conscionable wrong. It hits you successful the gut,” Hutchison said. “At the extremity of this evidence, we’re going to inquire the tribunal to close this wrong.” A blockbuster lawsuit pitting the Seenos’ company, Coyote Springs Investment LLC, against the state of Nevada opened this week. Lawyers delivered opening statements on Wednesday that consumed most of an eight‑hour session. According to court filings, the Seenos are demanding no less than $1.5 billion, plus interest and attorneys’ fees. Legal experts contend the case—described as a first‑of‑its‑kind action—could reshape Nevada water law, opening the door for any water user to sue the state if they believe their property has been rendered unusable or “taken” under an adverse water‑rights ruling. The decision could reverberate through the office of the Nevada state engineer, the nation’s top water regulator in the driest state. Jeffrey Sylvester, a private attorney defending the state, argued on Wednesday that every action taken by the state engineer to impede the Coyote Springs development was grounded in science and served the public interest. “They are asking this tribunal to find and clasp arsenic a substance of law, astatine the extremity of the day, that the regulatory authorization exercised by our fiduciary for our payment is an unconstitutional thing,” Sylvester said. “That would acceptable Nevada h2o instrumentality connected its ear.” The initial phase of the trial involves only a judge, with no jury, and may extend for months, attorneys said. If Clark County District Judge Mark Denton finds merit in Hutchison’s claims, a jury will be empaneled to determine the amount of compensation the Seenos should receive in the trial’s second phase. A doomed investment On Friday, Judge Denton visited the Coyote Springs site for a closed‑door tour. Little remains to show for the ambitious plan. Originally conceived by Reno lobbyist and developer Harvey Whittemore, the Seenos intended to build at least 150,000 homes, golf courses and commercial amenities. The partnership among Whittemore, Pardee Homes and the Seenos collapsed and turned litigious by 2012, when the Seenos assumed sole ownership. The Seenos have little to show for what Hutchison claims are hundreds of millions of dollars invested since they became involved in the early 2000s. The property includes an irrigated golf course, a detention basin, a clubhouse and water‑treatment plants that were never used to construct a residence. Hutchison said the Seenos’ aspirations collapsed in 2018 after the state engineer issued a letter and subsequent orders declaring that subdivision maps would not be approved. Internal emails uncovered during discovery, according to Hutchison, reveal that the engineer did not intend to review the maps in good faith, contrary to the terms of a legal settlement. “You’re not going to perceive grounds from CSI that the authorities technologist lacks the authorization to bash what helium did,” Hutchison said. “You can’t instrumentality it and not wage for it. That’s a taking that the Constitution does not allow.” Sylvester countered that scientists have recognized since the 1960s that groundwater pumping produces broad impacts in this arid region, a fact affirmed by a 2024 Nevada Supreme Court decision. The state’s high court ruled the engineer lawfully merged seven groundwater basins into one for the purposes of water‑rights management. “The authorities technologist has been a bully steward, and that’s what the grounds is going to demonstrate,” helium said. The witness list for the trial includes Whittemore, the original designer for Coyote Springs, who is slated to testify between July 23 and July 29. Whittemore served a prison sentence in 2014 for channeling campaign donations to then‑U.S. Senator Harry Reid’s campaign. Also expected to testify are Albert Seeno, his longtime counsel Emilia Cargill, several former Nevada state engineers, and Colby Pellegrino, assistant general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority.